Some semblance of normalcy has returned!

Feeling: a bit more certain about things

It’s no secret that I’ve been struggling with the idea of being a mum. It’s a really heavy-duty to take on. And not so much of “taking on” but more of it being shoved in your face when the baby arrives.

The one good thing about the fact that parenthood is like a trap in the middle of the road is that you can see it coming, and you can (attempt) to prepare for it as it gets nearer and nearer.

And with that, it’s my pleasure to tell you that even with whatever amount of preparation you make or take, it’s actually impossible to know what’s coming and it’s a journey that’s too amazing right from the minute you bring him home.

With the bub now firmly in the final stages of taking over our household, I can only say that we are really enjoying him being around. He’s starting to focus on our faces and his coos and gurgles are more than melting our hearts.

Even the dog has taken a shine to the little man.

And despite the stress and worry of handling the first two weeks, it really does seem that time solves all things!

We have established a routine of sorts with who takes care of the diapers and the baths and just trying to integrate the bub into our every day life. Or rather trying to get accustomed to his demands and body requirements.

And boy does he have a lot of things going on with his little body.

Suffice to say that at last weigh-in (the hubs taking his weight and then his weight while holding the bub and then doing the math), the bub weighed a grand 3.6kg. And that’s a MAD increase for a 2 and a half week old boy! When we had our first visit with the Paed, we were told that the expected growth was about a 100g per week.

Considering that our bub had actually put back his birth weight in 3 days (from 2.94kg, his weight dropped to 2.7kg upon discharge and back to 2.9kg), the doctor was impressed and very hopeful for the good development of our little boy.

And that being said, we’ve been very blessed (or rather it’s more of a me being blessed) with a bountiful milk production.

When the lactation consultant from the hospital came in to visit me in the hospital room on the very first morning, I was a bit shocked at how she handled my breasts in order to get SOMETHING to come out.

Of course in the first days of milk production you don’t get milk, you get colustrum which is like a thicker version of milk, more packed with antibodies and vitamins of the like.

But back to the story proper, besides the manhandling, it looked like I had a pretty good supply backed up in my boobs because the LC (lactation consultant) kept saying that I had a lot of milk…

And while a good thing, it was very disconcerting. I felt like a cow..

*sigh* but you do what it takes to make sure that you’re producing well for your bub right? And when you read about some of the things on the mummies’ forums and in the mummy’s chat group and the advice on Facebook about how to keep supply up and sore nipples away and what to do when people talk down to you about breastfeeding….

Let’s just say that we are really blessed that out of all the issues to contend with, we are so blessed that we’ve not had the brunt of it yet and hopefully never will have to.

For instance, today we just went to see an LC for what I thought was either a bad latch (baby attaching to your nipples) or possible even worse – a thrush infection.

I’d been fretting over getting checked out for DAYS. Suffering through shooting pains when the bub was at my breast and desperately asking for advice on different channels and also searching for home remedies to alleviate the ache and pain.

Honestly, with all the stressing and worrying that I’ve been doing the past week, I just didn’t want to incur more costs to the family and was really just trying to make sure that I had done all I could have done before we resorted to having to pay someone to do something about things.

Yes, money issues worry me the most.

In any case, it turns out that after all that worrying, when we eventually decided that a visit to the professionals WAS called for, it was just a simple matter of some backed up ducts in my boob that needed to be cleared! A little massage and all’s right in the world again (if you can call a boob massage trying to clear engorgement and blocked ducts a “little” massage. Let me tell you that boob massages are worse than getting a tattoo..)

Nothing QUITE as serious as an infection or the bub’s ability to latch and nourish himself from my breast. Definitely not a production issue or any other frightening possibility.

To be entirely honest, that peace of mind knowing that the whole thing is resolved and that I got a proper diagnosis makes me feel like it was worthwhile to shell out the cash…

But moving on, exactly like the above example, every other minute I tend to second guess myself with all the possibilities of what might be – what if, what if I don’t, should we, can we, I probably should have done things a different way, maybe things would be better if…

It’s really not easy to be a parent where you’re totally 100% in charge of a tiny creature who is absolutely helpless. Kind of like a defender of justice and protector of the innocent eh?

I mean it’s supposed to be an animal instinct kind of thing to want to make sure that the helpless are protected.

There’re a tonne of articles out there about how the mean old she-leopard killed a chimpanzee or something then found out that there was a baby bereaved after the killing. But instead of killing the baby too, the leopard kinda ended up becoming a surrogate.

And if feral and wild animals are so inclined, so should we humans right? And even more so if for their own babies.

But like I was saying, things are starting to settle down. Daddy has his own little night time routine which involves him giving baby a little bit of a bath and singing to him all the while. And after that, we read him a story after he nurses before bedtime.

It’s not a foolproof schedule as of yet, but we’re getting more efficient at it 🙂

We’re not too worried about letting him have a dip in the bath anymore – the first time we tried, we didn’t have the water temperature warm enough and the bub was quite literally kicking and screaming when we were sponging him down.

I’m sure also pretty sure that we have gotten a lot more efficient at tossing out dirty diapers and strapping him into a clean pair of underpants. In addition, we are also very weary about golden showers while we are changing him – our friends were NOT kidding when they said that (boys especially) can give you a big shock if you don’t cover their wee-wees while changing.

Not to mention learning how to maneuver the bub into a comfortable position for feeding. Like I’ve said, he’s gained a lot of weight; my wrists and forearms are getting SO muscular…

Sigh, now I know what my friends are talking about when they say to treasure your bub when he’s still small and tiny.. It makes me kinda wish that he’ll continue to stay small forever!

But this is really just the beginning! There’s just so much MORE to look forward to once we get the hang of things so we’re totally looking forward to becoming experts at performing the daily chores so we can really start enjoying the pleasure of the little man’s company 🙂